The bad news this week was NOFO Market and Cafe at The Forum, 1125 Military Cutoff Road, is closing Jan. 22, but the good news this morning is that chef James Bain in March will open a fast-casual, healthy meals concept into the location.

So many diners and chefs over the past few years have told me now much they love Bain’s cooking or how he has inspired their own cooking. Many people still talk about the days when he helmed the stoves at Harvest Moon, a now-shuttered Oleander Drive restaurant known fresh but elegant fare until it closed on New Year’s Eve in 2003.

Bain has yet to select a name for his new restaurant at the NOFO location. “This all kind of came about really fast,” he said. But the fast-casual, healthy approach he plans is an idea, Bain said, he has been composing for a few years.

Specific menu items are still being worked out, but Bain said that he was sourcing organic chickens this morning and that he plans to use local produce and other foods as much as possible.

“I really want to keep it focused on the new concept,” he said, “but I have to have one night a month where we do some Harvest Moon stuff and have some kind of dinner.”

Much of the NOFO look will remain, Bain said, and he’ll keep the restaurant’s retail section, too. Bain will sell his Surf Salt, a seasoning line he developed in summer 2010 while working as the head chef at Dockside, 1038 Airlie Road. A surfer, Bain said he will also sell beach-related items and may develop some other food products.

NOFO in Wilmington is going away but the business will remain in Raleigh, where owner Jean Martin will continue to operate the popular NOFO @ The Pig, 2014 Fairview Road.

NOFO here will serve its last brunch 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Jan. 22, general manager Kima Nixon said. Look for a special sale on retail items Jan. 19-22.

The 15-year-old cafe and market was named for its original location on North Fourth Street. The restaurant moved to The Forum in 1999, Nixon said.

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